Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. has entered into an exclusive Discovery and Safety Services partnership with Bit Bio, a company that offers reprogramming of human cells for use in research, drug discovery, and cell therapies.
 
By applying an engineering approach to synthetic and stem cell biology, Bit Bio has developed technologies for the efficient, consistent, and scalable reprogramming of induced pluripotent stem cells.
 
Bit Bio’s gene engineering approach, opti-ox (optimised inducible over-expression), is validated on both muscle and brain cells, and enables precise, controllable stem cell reprogramming.
 
Through the partnership with Bit Bio, Charles River plans to offer clients access to an expanding suite of authentic human cells through their target discovery, validation and screening services.

In drug discovery and safety, the use of high quality, authentic human cells at scale will help enable the development of therapies with a higher chance of success in patients. Charles River will also contribute to the development and validation of novel cell lines.
 
“Bit Bio’s unique method of reprogramming human stem cells will have a significant impact on our ability to ensure we are discovering and developing therapies that are effective and safe in patients. We are excited to offer this next-generation technology as part of our comprehensive portfolio of drug discovery and development tools,” said Birgit Girshick, corporate executive vice president, discovery and safety assessment, Biologics Testing Solutions, and Avian Vaccine Services at Charles River.
 
“We believe that the next generation of medicine hinges on widespread access to human cells,” said Bit Bio’s chief business officer, Paul Morrill, PhD. “We are excited to be partnering with Charles River Laboratories, a leader in drug development, to put our cells within a context to drive human translational experiments at the earliest stages of drug discovery and safety assessment.”